Juvenile delinquency can be traced back to the Ancient Greeks (400 BC) when Socrates wrote about bad behaved youngsters, who contradict their parents and tyrannise their teachers (Havard and Clark, p. 390). In fact, youthful misbehaviour has been a concern throughout time and resembles similarities and concerns until today. Juvenile delinquency refers to young people who act in illegal or not acceptable ways; youngsters, who break the law or display antisocial behaviour.
The first approach to be discussed is the psychological approach which first concentrates on the personality of delinquents. One of the first scientists to link personality to delinquency was Hans Eysenck, who was interested to find out why people’s personality differed.
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The model became to be known as ‘ICAP’ (Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential’ theory and was designed to research the offending behaviour of males from working-class families (Havard and Clark, 2014, p. 226). The focus of this research is a person’s ‘antisocial potential’ (AP), which refers to their potential to commit antisocial acts and their decision to turn that potential into the reality of committing a crime. Nevertheless, the ICAP theory is targeting a specific group of people, namely ‘males’ with working-class background, from low-income families with low school attainment and who are unemployed.
However, the ICAP theory also considers aspects that might prevent an individual from offending, which, in fact, is one of the strengths of this theory as it identifies several factors responsible for future criminal and antisocial behaviour. On the other hand, though, the study has been criticized for only considering risk factors related to family, parenting and peer groups while ignoring wider issues, such as the role of neighbourhood (Webster et al.,
Gang Leader for a Day is a novel about Sudhir Venkatesh who is a student, studying Sociology at the University of Chicago. At the beginning of the book, Sudhir went to a house where there is known drug and gang activity to describe the people he saw at the residence to survey some of the people pertaining to sociological concepts. The location of the residence was in an urban, low-income neighborhood, which was inhabited by a primarily African American community. This could pertain to Differential Assoication because he went to high-crime area. Differential association suggest that all human behavior is learned behavior, therefore, if a person grows up around crime and gang activity, they are much more likely to follow in those footsteps as
Analyzing the juvenile delinquency, this can be perceived from different mindsets. Merriam-Webster defines juvenile delinquency as conduct by a juvenile characterized by antisocial behavior that is beyond parental control and therefore subject to legal action and a violation of the law committed by a juvenile and not punishable by death or life imprisonment. Also, a crimes committed by a person is only name a juvenile if the individual is under the age of eighteen In today’s society majority of kids are not born to be criminals or defined as above as delinquents. Children usually develop these habits or lifestyles choices due to poverty, circumstances and culture.
In this sense, influence of peers is easily a tell-tale sign of future criminal behavior. If a child is less involved with their peers and outcasted the likelihood of the child becoming criminal rises. Aditionally, if a child were brought up in either socioeconomic standpoints, child abuse/neglect plays a significant role in future criminality. A study shows that a child who experienced abuse/neglect were at a 50% higher risk to involve themselves in criminal acts. This goes to show that nature vs. nurture are significant factors in criminal behavior.
One way to discipline delinquents or to remove them from society is to incarcerate them. Being surrounded by inmates whom you cannot relate to, not only on a mental level, but on a level of criminal activity is not the ideal setting for a juvenile to be placed in. When this occurs, youth then have to find ways to protect themselves. Which can result to further deviant behavior. "Studies have shown that continuing delinquent youth in correctional facilites will return to the same adverse environment".
Adrian Raine, criminologist and author of "The Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime," has said before, is a very important factor in criminal behaviour that affects about 75% of a person’s criminal activity. In his book, Raine explores the many evidences that lead up to biological and genetic influences on crime
Usually when a youth is classified as a delinquent it is associated with antisocial behaviors within the family and in the community such as aggression and can lead to related problems such as vandalism, substance usage and running away, theft, robbery, and larceny, gang memberships and school shootings. Juveniles are typically not charged like adults unless the crime is serious. Delinquency in the United States is examined with the emphasis on its relation to local communities and the groups and institutions that form the social world of children and adolescents (Cavan &
The effect of the parents experiencing social exclusion was transferred to the children. (Social Exclusion| poverty and Social Exclusion) Conclusion: The murder of James Bulger was horrific and would not have happened if these boys were from good and responsible homes. Robert Thompson grew up in a criminogenic family and this must have played an
Juvenile delinquency as a concept did not always exist as we know it today, nor did the concept of childhood. During the Middle Ages (500-1500 AD) children were merely depicted as miniature adults and were faced with severe physical punishment for offences. As most children entered the adult world of labour at a very young age through apprenticeship, discipline was severe as their Master was held accountable for any sign of disobedience. Apprenticeship was realised as an effective form of control over children and it unknowingly became the first form of “detention” for delinquent children. These children were put to work in agriculture, domestic services or trading and it became a means of keeping them out of trouble.
The article “Worldview of high-risk Juvenile Delinquents” written by Julie H. Goldberg is focused on the relationship between violent juvenile offenders and their devastating past experiences. The participants of this research were male adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18 incarcerated who were also in the high-risk offenders Unit of a juvenile hall. The study was to predict participants’ willingness to shoot. Preexisting risk factors (delinquency, exposure to violence, and victimization) was required to be factored into any findings. There were 3 research questions and they are as follows:
The boys sought for this experiment were already delinquent, and as noted this was a case study, these were unique individuals and as such the findings cannot be generalized to the larger population of the United States, California or even Oakland. Another fact that must be noted is that the author utilized snowball sampling, the author went to community organizations and asked to be connected to ‘at risk’ kids, and when he established communication with some of the young men, he asked them to refer him to other youths in similar situations. The author also makes note of the fact that his own experiences as a child may have had a bias on his
Understanding the risk and protective factors of child delinquency is imperative in order to create and implement treatment and intervention programs. Because children’s behavior develops during the first five years, it is important to know what risk and protective factors could increase the likelihood of a child becoming a child offender (Wasserman et al., 2003). Moreover, overcoming the risk factors would help prevent the child offender from becoming a juvenile, and later, adult offender. As Wasserman et al (2003) stated, “risk factors for child delinquency operate in several domains: the individual child, the child’s family, the child’s peer group, the child’s school, the child’s neighborhood, and the media” (pg.1). As one can see, children are exposed to risk in partially every aspect of their lives.
In learning about Juvenile delinquency and theories on why delinquency occurs, I found that the choice theory was most applicable to a variety of juveniles and the reason why they choose to commit crimes. The choice theory suggests that “Juvenile offenders are rational decision makers who choose to engage in antisocial activity because they believe their actions will be beneficial”. (Siegel and Welsh, 2016, p. 58) It is my opinion, that most juveniles do have the ability to think for themselves and weigh the pros and the cons to committing a crime. I liked this theory most because I strongly agree that in the majority of juvenile delinquency cases, the act is a product of choice.
Furthermore, the psychology of criminal behavior, psychology, and criminology all have a primary objective of achieving an understanding of the variation in the criminal behavior of individuals (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). Empirically, the study of variation in criminal behavior is done by the studying of covariates (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). The primary covariates that PCC studies are biological, social, and psychological (Andrews and Bonta , 2010). Although, criminology tends to assess criminality at an aggregate level, in comparison to the psychology of criminal conduct’s focus on an individual level. Additionally, a psychology of criminal conduct involves applying what is learned by the studying of psychological information and methods to the predicting and influencing the propensity of criminal behavior on an individual
The set of the structural-functional theories are among the most widespread perspectives on the juvenile delinquency. The group of the theories regards that the behavior of the underage delinquent is caused by the breakdown of the social process that consequently results in the increase of conformity (Thompson & Bynum, 2016). The group of theories presumably blame institutions that are responsible for the socialization of the young delinquents for the way the socialize the individuals by causing them to conform to the values of the society. One of the central theories of the juvenile delinquency is the anomie theory that is rooted in the early studies by the sociologist Emile Durkheim.
Retrieved May 31, 2015, from Abandunadong Kahoy Website: https://imaginaryblogger.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/juvenile-delinquency-its-effects-and-how-to-solve-it/ (2014, May). Retrieved May 31, 2015, from Wikipedia Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicate Bridges, K. B. (1926-1927). Factors Contributing Juvenile Delinquency. 17, 531. Farrington, D. P. (n.d.).